March 26, 2018
Eugene, Ore.----- San Jose State University relied on all five of its players on a grueling day of 36 holes to be in seventh place heading into the final round of the 29th annual Oregon Duck Invitational men's golf tournament.
The Spartans have a 588 score on the par 71, 7,020-yard Eugene Country Club course and are only nine shots behind team leader Santa Clara which posted a 579. Host Oregon and Oregon State are tied for second at 580. Only 11 strokes separate the top nine teams in the 16-team field.
"We're getting better at figuring out how to get it done,"' said San Jose State men's golf coach John Kennaday about his team's day in the cold and occasionally wet conditions. Temperatures hovered in the 40's most of the day according to the Spartans coach.
"This team is getting more resourceful and they're competitors. This is a very competitive team that is getting better at competing... They played better in the afternoon than they did in the morning which is a very good sign."
San Jose State counted both 18-hole scores from Kevin Velo, Bryce Wortman and Sean Yu and one each from Sean Talmadge and Ben Campbell. Talmadge's afternoon-round even-par 71 was the team's best 18-hole score of the day.
Wortman is the top Spartan individual in 18th place with a four-over par 146. He had identical scores of 73-73.
Riley Elmes of LMU is the individual leader at 137. Only eight players in the field were under par after 36 holes.
The 54-hole tournament concludes with a final round of 18 holes on March 27.
29th annual Oregon Duck Invitational
Eugene Country Club, Eugene, Ore.
7,020 yards, par 71
36-hole results
| Team Scores | |
| 1. Santa Clara | 579 |
| 2. Oregon | 580 |
| Oregon State | 580 |
| Liberty | 580 |
| 5. Arizona | 582 |
| 6. Saint Mary's | 585 |
| 7. San Jose State | 588 |
| 8. Colorado State | 590 |
| LMU | 590 |
| 10. Fresno State | 594 |
| 11. Iowa | 595 |
| 12. Denver | 596 |
| 13. UAB | 600 |
| 14. Pacific | 601 |
| Boise State | 601 |
| 16. Seattle U. | 610 |
| Leading individuals | |
| 1. Riley Elmes, LMU | 71-66-137 |
| 2. Norman Xiong, Oregon | 67-71-138 |
| 3. Spencer Tibbits, Oregon State | 71-69-140 |
| Joe Harvie, Seattle U. | 69-71-140 |
| San Jose State scores | |
| 18. Bryce Wortman | 73-73-146 |
| 21. Kevin Velo | 74-73-147 |
| 28. Sean Talmadge | 77-71-148 |
| 34. Sean Yu | 74-75-149 |
| 56. Ben Campbell | 75-77-152 |